Fish lure



w. B. WIGHT, JR 2,563,386

FISH LURE Filed March 19, 1948 2f 2a E15 r2 f5 716. j.

I IIIIII .Z 1144/11/11."

IN V EN TOR.

Patented Aug. 7, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FISH LURE Walter B.Wight, Jr., Los Angeles, Calif.

Application March 19, 1948, Serial No. 15,769

(Cl. l13-42.22)

1 Claim. l

This invention relates to improvements in fish lures. A primary objectof the invention is to provide an improved fish lure adjacent the rearend of which there are one or more rudders which are adjustablerelatively to the body of the lure so that on adjusting the rudders withrelation to the lure, the lure may optionally be caused to spin or, onbeing trolled through the water, to dive or dart in a manner so as toattract iish. In the preferred form of construction two diametricallyopposed rudders are employed each of which are independently adjustablewith relation to the body. By means of the adjustment, the body of thelure may be caused to spin in either direction and in this manner, iithe lure on spinning in one direction causes the fishing line to whichit is attached to twist, the rudders can be quickly adjusted to causethe lure to spin in the opposite direction and thus untwist the line.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fish lure consisting ofa hollow body on which independently adjustable rudders are mounted andto provide a means for holding the rudders in adjusted positions that isdisposed entirely within the body. In this manner the body oi the luremay have a smooth or streamlined exterior with the exception of theruddersn so that `danger of weeds or grass becoming caught on the lureduring trolling is substantially eliminated.

Another object of the invention is totprovide an improved sh lure thebody oi which isv so designed as to be capable of easy construction andassembly.

With the foregoing and other objects in View,

which will be made manifest in the following detailed description andspecificallypointed out in the appended claim, reference is had to theaccompanying drawings for an illustrative embodiment of the invention,wherein:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section through one form `of iishlure embodying the present invention;

Figs. 2 and 3 are transverse sections taken substantially upon the lines2--2 and 3-3, respectively, on Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a partial view in vertical section of an alternative form ofsh lure embodying the present invention;

Fig. 5 is an exploded view illustrating details of constructionillustrated in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 4. but illustrating still anotheralternative form of construction embodying the invention;

Fig. 7 is an exploded view of details of construction illustrated inFig. 6 and Figs. 8, 9, l() and 11 are rear views in elevationillustrating various adjustments that the rudders of the iish lure maybe given.

Referring to the accompanying drawings wherein similar referencecharacters designate similar parts throughout, the improved fish lurecomprises a wire or rod Il having an eye ll formed on its forward end towhich its leader may be connected and by which the lure may be attachedto a iishing rod. The rear end of this wire or rod may be formed with asimilar eye as indicated at l2 for the attachment of a fish hook I3thereto. Forwardly oi the eye l2 there is disposed a shoulder I4 whichlimits rearward movement of the lure with relation to the wire l0.

The body oi the lure is preferably symmetrical and oi elongated shape.It consists of two opposed sheet metal halves i6 and i6 which areassembled together about a cylindrical ring il and secured thereto suchas by screws i8. These halves mutually cooperate to form a torpedoshapedbody at the end oi which there are disposed bushings or bearings I9 and2S which iit loosely around the wire IB so as to enable the body to spinrelatively to the wire.

Rudders are mounted for swinging movement on the body adjacent the rearend thereof and in the preferred form of construction there are two ofsuch rudders disposed diametrically opposite each other. Such ruddersare illustrated at 2| and 22. Each rudder in the form illustrated inFig. 1 has a shank 23 extending through the wall of its body part andwhich is riveted over as indicated at 24 so as to retain thereon alocking washer or sleeve 25. Each shank 23 has secured thereto a springarm 223 which has its swinging or freeend engageable with any oi threenotches 2 formed on a transverse rib 2t that is integral with orotherwise secured to the interior of each of the body parts.

It will be observed from the above described construction that eachrudder 2l and 22 is independently adjustable with relation to the bodyof the lure and that each rudder may be swung or turned about the axisof its shank 23 as a center. In so doing the spring arm 26 is merelycammed out of one notch 2T in swinging the rudder from one position toanother so that each rudder is capable of assuming either of threedifferent positions with relation to the body of the lure. In thecentral notch 2l the spring arm 26 serves to retain its rudder in aplane coincident with the axis of the body of the lure whereas in eitherof the side notches 2 the spring arm 26 will cause its rudder to beretained or deected either toward the right or to the left.

In the construction illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, the shanks 30 on therudders 3l and 32 carry notched quadrants 33. The shanks as illustratedinFig. 5 are preferably squared or non-circular and on being extendedthrough the corresponding holes in the quadrants are riveted over asillustrated at 34. The quadrants have notches 35 formed therein, therebeing preferably three of such notches, and a spring arm 36 which issecured in 'any Suitable manner to the interior of its body part isengageablej with any of the notches to releasably hold its rudder in anyadjusted position.

In the construction illustrated in Figs. 6 'and VZ, the ruddersi `and dlhave shanks 42 which extend through their respective body parts, the

innermost ends of the Shanks being squared or rendered non-circular asindicated at `lll, so as to t a corresponding hole in a corrugated wash=er 44. This corrugated'washer is adapted to be retained on the shanksuch as by riveting over as indicated at 45 and urged into engagementwith a complementary corrugated 'washer 4t that may be soldered, brazed,spot-welded 'or otherwise se- Vvcured to the interior of its body part.

In the constructions illustrated in Figs. 4 andY 6, as well as in thevconstruction illustrated in Fig. 1, each rudder Yis independentlyadjustable with relation vto the body of the lure 'and when adjustedintoa given position will be releas'ably vretained in such position. The.rudder may b'e caused to assume positions as 'illustrated in Figs. l,3, 4 and 6 wherein the rudders are in planes coincident with the axis ofthe lure. On 'the other hand, as illustrated fin Fig. 8, both -rudders`may be adjusted into a position Vextending laterally in the samedirection and fas illustrated in this iigure the rudders extendylaterally 'towardthe left. Conversely, -it is possible to adjust bothrudders so thatvboth of them extend tow'afrd the f right. When therudders are thus adjusted the lure, on being trolled 'through the water,tends to have a leaping or darting action designed to 4attract theattention of fish.

As illustrated Vin Fig. 59, however, onerudder .may be adjustedlaterally toward the right and ythe other rudder vina'y be adjustedlaterally to- `ward the left so that vif the r'udde'rs are 'adjusted rasillustrated in Fig. 9, the body of the lure 'will .be caused to 'spinvwith relation to the wire IU in .a Vcounter-clockwise manner. Althoughthe body "of vthe lure is intended to freely 'spin or rotate 'withrelation 'to the wire I-, as ls well known a spinning lure, 'regardlessof the presence of swivels, will frequently bring about a twist in the'trolling line.V When this occurs it is merely necessary to reversely`adjust Vthe rudder's trom the position shown in Fig. 9 to cause thelure to spin in a clockwise direction and on using the lure for a shorttime in this manner the fishing line may be vuntwisted by th'elureitself. r`Ihe rudders may Voptionally be given other adjusted positionsdrawing the particular manner in which the rudders are held in adjustedpositions is subject to considerable variation but in all forms it ishighly desirable to have the adjustment-maintaining means disposedentirely within the hollow body ,of the lure so that there will be noexternal devices on which grass or weeds are apt to catch in the courseof trolling` The rudders themselves project laterally only a slightdistance beyond the maximum diameter of the body and as they presentrelatively smooth surfaces danger of weeds or grass becoming caughtthereon is to a large extent avoided. i

Various changes may be made in the details of construction withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined vby theappended claim.

I claim:

A shing lure comprising a two-section hollow body having oppositeopenings i-n the walls thereof and projections extending inwardly fromsaid walls and longitudinally spaced from said openings, and eachprojection having a plurality of recesses at the free end thereof,rudders for the body, each rudder having a shoulder engaging an.exterior wall surface or" the body and provided with a shank extendingthrough one of the openings, a collar on said shank, said collar andAshank having aligned openings, and a rod extending through the openingsin the collar and shank and adapted to be received adjacent one endthereof in vone of the recesses in one of said projections.

' WALTER B. WIG-IT, Ja.

REFERENCES CITED y The 'following references are of record in the le ofthis patent: n UNITED STATES PATENTS Y Number Name Date 146,764: JamesJan. V27, 1874 1,188,583 Townsend June 27, 1916 1,393,617 v Frame Oct.l1, 1921 1,610,029 Wyrlll .'Dec.7, 1926 FOREIGN PATENTS Num-ber CountryDate 1,992 Great Britain .'of "1888 23,482 Great Braam of 1899 355,593*Great Britain Aug. 27, 1931 615,092 'Great Britain Dec. 3'1, 1948

